USB eternal hard drive

I have three USB hard drives, two of which did work under windows vista home premium but they no longer show in "compter". The drive lights continue to flash as nomal. The other one does still show and can be written to.

The data is still on the drives and uncorrupted, because it can be accessed and read on the same computer under a "live" version of ubuto linux.

The previous time this happend i solved the problem by re-installing windows so i assume it is a problem with the registry but i really do not want to re-install again if it can be avioded.

Any suggestions would be welcome

It's not a problem I've come across before. Have you tried contacting the manufacturer?

Try going into the management console and find Drive Management. You may need to be an administrator.

Do the drives appear there? If they do, you may need to import the disks or (re)assign a drive letter to make them visible.

faulty cable? - have you tried swapping the usb port?

Surely remote hard drives have the necessary driver installed at the very beginning which is installed onto the computer in the initial setup which in my case is automatic. I am running a Buffalo 500GB attached by USB to my Dell Inspiron 545 desktop. The actual remote drive is my secon, the other also being a Buffalo which had more problems than the Greek Treasury. The current example is a FOC replacement under the warranty and it too has a problem in that it will not complete a computer Backup which was my reason for purchase. I do suspect that the transfer of data is complete but the wrong information is displayed at the end of the process.
Fearless Fred.

Thanks for these replies,I tried them all but the answer by DC proved to be the solution. As with so many microsoft progs, the name was rather difficult to guess, So type "compmgmt.msc" (yes, ".msc" !) into the "run" slot and then select "disc management" tab under the storage section. Despite not having a drive letter assinged the drive will show in the list. So click "change drive letter" and assign it a vacant drive letter. click OK twice . Problem solved. Thanks